TV Nerd News #14

Welcome to another edition of iGR’s TV Nerd News! As always, I’m bringing you the best in the week’s TV news! This week was a bit better than previous week’s as far news as we got a high profile pilot casting, a cast shakeup for a veteran cable drama and an end date for a certain HBO comedy. Anyways, let’s get to it shall we?

In pretty depressing news for yours truly, it appears that Happy Endings is likely dead. After ABC chose not to renew it, there was some hope that USAwould pick it up to pair with its syndication airings of Modern Family but alas, it does not appear that will be the case. Because of that, it doesn’t look like Happy Endings will be saved by another network. There had been rumors that TBS could pick it up to pair with Cougar Town, a show that was also canceled by ABC, but Sony has to work out a deal before the end of the month, when the contracts for the cast expire.

One of HBO’s high profile pilots, The Leftovers, has landed it’s male lead in the form of Justin Theroux (American Psycho)! Written and produced by Damon Lindelof (Lost), The Leftovers centers on what happens after The Rapture and the people that were left on Earth. Lindelof has come under fire on the internet recently because of every nerd’s displeasure with Prometheus but he proved pretty cable of running a high concept series like Lost, so it’s a no-brainer that HBO would want to get into business with him. We’ll keep you posted as the pilot goes through the various stages of production.

Showtime’s Shameless is entertaining its fourth season and it’s about to experience a major shake-up because Justin Chatwin (War of the Worlds) is no longer a series regular! Producers of the show say that he could come back for a small recurring arc but not a whole lot more than that. Since Chatwin was basically playing the male lead of the series, it’s pretty surprising to see him leave the show. That said, it is based on the British series that saw its male lead James McAvoy (X-Men: The Last Stand) leave after just one season so the writers probably just ran out of ideas for the character. It will be interesting to see if the show tries to find another character to try and take over as the male lead of the series or if they’ll stick with the current ensemble that they have.

Though it hasn’t officially been labeled as it’s last season, it’s like 99% certain that the upcoming eighth season of USA’s Psych will be the show’s last. As a huge fan of the series, it sucks to see it ending but eight seasons is a lot for a show these days so I guess I can’t complain too much. That said, there will definitely be a lack of James Roday and Dule Hill in the coming future, something I’m not quite sure I’m prepared for yet. They’re going out with a bang though, because upcoming guest stars include Vinnie Jones (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels) and Olivia d’Abo (Wonder Years) , as well as returning guest stars Cary Elwes (The Princess Bride) and Kristy Swanson (Buffy the Vampire Slayer film).

The upcoming fourth season of HBO’s Eastbound & Down will be its last. It will debut on September 29th and run for eight episodes but there will be no more show after that. It’s no surprise considering Danny McBride’s (Your Highness) burgeoning film career. Well, that and he’s busy developing an animated show for FX. All of that said, fans of the show should feel lucky because the show was never supposed to go past three seasons. So, you got an extra eight episodes you weren’t supposed to get so be happy! I doubt it makes you happy but that’s internet logic for you so deal with it? I don’t know, I’m still crying from the first story!

That’s it for this week, folks! Due to a lack of trailers, there isn’t going to be a Trailer Tuesday today but you can check out my FNN article from yesterday here. And of course, don’t forget to follow me on Twitter @kyle_igr and the site @igresponsibly!